Pokémon Stadium 2, known as Pocket Monsters' Stadium Kin Gin(ポケモンスタジアム金銀,Pokemon Sutajiamu Kin Gin?, lit.: Pokémon Stadium Gold Silver) in Japan, is a video game for the Nintendo 64. It features all 251 Pokémon from the first and second generations. It was released in North America as simply Pokémon Stadium 2, as it was the second Stadium game to be released there. In Japan, Pocket Monsters' Stadium Kin Gin was the third game of the Pokémon Stadium series. The Japanese edition also featured the capability to use the Pokémon Mobile System from Pokémon Crystal which was also released on the same day.

This game featured support for all three original Game Boy Pokémon games (Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow) and the three Game Boy Color games (Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal). As in the previous Stadium games, Pikachu from Yellow was a hidden character if the game cartridge was connected. The majority of the game takes place inside the new location White City, where various facilities for battling, organizing, researching, and playing with Pokémon are located. This can be considered to be the Pokémon League for the second generation games. The sequel to the popular Pokémon Stadium features minigames, multiplayer, and league mode.

Contents

While Pokémon Stadium 2 does have a storyline, progress in the game can be made by winning Cups in the Stadium and completing the Gym Leader Castle. When all Cups have been won and the Gym Leader Castle completed, the player's Rival will appear. Defeating the Rival will unlock Round 2, in which the player must re-challenge the Stadium, Gym Leader Castle, and the Rival in order to complete the game. It should be noted, however, that they have different Pokémon and the difficulty is much higher.

There are 4 main stadium cups that the player can participate in.[1] There are 8 trainers to battle in each cup. Also in each cup a team of 6 Pokémon is assembled from either rental Pokémon or imported Pokémon from a Game Boy cartridge, with the exception of the Challenge Cup, and for each battle only 3 Pokémon are selected.[1] One cup that can be challenged is the Little Cup. In this cup unevolved level 5 Pokémon are used. Another cup that can be challenged is the Poke Cup. In this cup Pokémon that are level 50-55 can be used, and there are 4 different waves of 8 trainers to battle (Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and Master Ball). The third cup that can be challenged is the Prime Cup. In this cup any Pokémon that is level 1-100 can be used, but the other trainers will always have level 100 Pokémon. The final cup that can be challenged is the Challenge Cup.[1] There are 4 different waves of trainers in this cup, just like for the Poke Cup, but each cup has a different level requirement.[2] The Poké Ball wave has level 30 Pokémon, the Great Ball wave has level 45 Pokémon, the Ultra Ball wave has level 60 Pokémon, and the Master Ball wave has level 75 Pokémon. In the Challenge Cup the parties of the player and opponents are chosen at complete random.

The Gym Leader Castle has the same set up that it did in Pokémon Stadium. The difference is that it begins with the Johto region gym leaders, then the Elite Four can be battled, after that then your rival Silver[1] can be battled, next the Kanto region gym leaders can be battled, and the final trainer is the Pokémon Champion Red. Each gym leader uses a specific type of Pokémon but in the Gym Leader Castle they have a few Pokémon that are a different type to cover some potential weaknesses.

After clearing all stadium modes and the Gym Leader Castle, you'll unlock the challenge against the rival. The rival uses only three Pokémon and they are Lugia, Ho-oh, and Mewtwo. In R-2 mode, all three of his Pokémon have maxed out IVs and EVs.

After beating the rival, you'll unlock R-2 mode. R-2 also known as Round 2, Second Quest, or Master Quest replays all stadium modes and the Gym Leader Castle with even much greater challenges and stronger trainers.

The Mini-Game Park is an area in White City where 12 Pokémon themed mini-games can be played, also every Mini-Game can have 4 players play at the same time. The 12 different mini-games that can be played are: Gutsy Golbat, Topsy-Turvy, Clear-Cut Challenge, Furret's Frolic, Barrier Ball, Pichu's Power Plant, Rampage Rollout, Streaming Stampede, Tumbling Togepi, Delibird's Delivery, Egg Emergency, and Eager Eevee. Pokémon from the players' inserted Game Boy cartridge in the Transfer Pak will be used in the mini-games, increasing their in-game Happiness rating in the process, and Pokémon other than the ones featured in the mini-game are eligible. For example, if the player has a Crobat in their Gold, Silver, or Crystal save file, it will be chosen for the Gutsy Golbat mini-game, while the player's Pikachu from Yellow will be playable in Pichu's Power Plant.

In Free Battle mode, players may conduct practice battles. Players can select rules from any of the tournament cups, or use modified rules. Up to four players may participate, using any combination of rental Pokémon and those imported from cartridges plugged into a Transfer Pak.

At the Game Boy Tower, the player can play Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal on the Nintendo 64. Winning tournament cups in the Stadium and completing the Gym Leader Castle will eventually unlock Doduo Mode (double speed) and Dodrio Mode (quadruple speed for Red, Blue, and Yellow; triple speed for Gold, Silver, and Crystal). However, only Red, Blue, and Yellow have any color while using either of the two modes.

In Japan, through use of the mobile phone adapter bundled with copies of Crystal, the player could access a "Mobile Stadium" game mode in which the player battled other players downloaded from the mobile phone service in a tournament. It was also possible to play against their friends through transferring the information across the mobile adapter.

Like its predecessor, Pokémon Stadium 2 is compatible with the Transfer Pak: an attachment to the Nintendo 64 controller with a slot to insert Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, including Pokémon Gold and Silver.[1] This allows players to use Pokémon trained in their Game Boy games to compete in Pokémon Stadium 2's multiple game modes.